Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Minister of State mentioned that the figures for Dublin West breached the constitutional limits, in that they exceed the figure of one Member per 30,000 people. Does he expect a significant variation between the preliminary figures and the final figures? He should bear in mind that in 1947, the then Fianna Fáil Government revised the constituencies based on the preliminary figures so a precedent exists. I believe I heard the Director General of the CSO mention that it did not expect significant variations between the preliminary figures and the final figures, because in this case the computer technology appears to work well. When exactly does the Minister of State expect to publish the final figures? I wish to draw his attention to the fact that in Dublin West, a population of more than 90,000 elects three Deputies in breach of the constitutional limits. However, in Dún Laoghaire, a population which is not much bigger——

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